How Poland Became an Unlikely Wine Country: An Interview with Wojciech Bońkowski

winnica_ag.jpg, default, Wine tourism in Lubusz Voivodship, Zielona Góra, photo: Władysław Czuła / AG

I’ve evolved along with Polish winemaking. In ‘ancient’ times, I used to say it would be good to make cider instead of wine. Now we’re in modern times with their prosperity, development, optimism, critical mass and therefore the development of a winemaking community. Wojciech Bońkowski talks about winemaking in Poland.

Monika Kucia: Poland isn’t historically a winemaking country, but we do have a short history of winemaking dating back centuries. When were grapes first cultivated on our territories?

Wojciech Bońkowski: In the Middle Ages, viticulture was quite developed in our country, also because the climate in our part of Europe was warmer back then. Wine was mainly needed for religious purposes, the celebration of mass, so it was grown on a limited, very small scale. Cultivation collapsed due to the so-called Little Ice Age, a period of cooling in the North Atlantic when average temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere dropped by about 1°C. Around the 17th century, Poland began importing large quantities of wine from, among other places, Hungary and Ukraine. After World War II, Lubusz Voivodeship, including Zielona Góra, was incorporated into Poland. Before 1939, Zielona Góra was the largest wine-producing region in Germany and specialized in sparkling wines. We took over these vineyards, but they, too, were closed down by the 1960s because the Polish communist authorities promoted the production of fruit wines, not grape wines.

MK: What is fruit wine?

WB: Fruit wine is a cheap alcoholic beverage made from widely available fruit, in Poland primarily from apples. Hence the Polish term ‘jabol’ [slang term for low-quality, wine-like alcoholic fruit beverage derived from the word for ‘apple’, jabłko, trans.]. This kind of wine is much cheaper to produce than wine made from the fermentation of grape must. Fruit wine production was possible in Poland on a large scale thanks to the orchard industry. The Polish People’s Republic saw a decline in wine culture, which had been quite developed in interwar Poland, among the elite of course. The common folk, if we may use that term, drank other alcoholic beverages. This is, of course, a result of our geographical location. We have a different social situation today; changes are affecting the whole of society, and wine has definitely become very popular. Studies show that nearly 50% of Poles declare at least occasional wine consumption.

MK: This is a huge change. But aren’t we talking mostly about sweet wines?

WB: Different wines, both sweet and dry. This popularization of wine also fuels Polish winemaking.

Grzegorz Sapijaszko’s vineyard near Wrocław, 2006, photo: Jan Brykczyński / Forum

MK: How did it all begin?

WB: Winemaking was first revived in the Podkarpackie region thanks to the efforts of Roman Myśliwiec, who founded a nursery where he propagated vines and supported the establishment of small vineyards and the production of wine in a style we affectionately call ‘allotment garden wine’. Some had 1,000, others 2,000 square meters of vineyard. Back then, no one had a hectare. These were amateur production attempts. The culmination of this stage was an event we organized with Wino [Wine] magazine in 2006: Konwent Polskich Winiarzy [Polish Winemakers’ Convention]. At that time, all the winemakers of the time, with Myśliwiec at the forefront, showcased their wines. It was a breakthrough moment but also, from today’s perspective, a terrible and sad one because few of those wines were drinkable. We had to find euphemisms for it, and we came up with phrases I’m quite proud of, such as ‘Piast acidity.’

MK: Without these beginnings, however, there wouldn’t be the boom we’re experiencing today.

WB: Of course. The most ambitious among these ‘allotment garden winemakers’ began to emerge. They expanded their crops, reaching a hectare. This required investment. You had to bottle those several thousand bottles of wine. You couldn’t just drink it with your brother-in-law anymore. The first larger vineyard was Jaworek Vineyard near Wrocław, then the Srebrna Góra Vineyard near Kraków was established. There were already several hectares of plantings there. These were consolidated, business-oriented projects. The owners were beginning to adopt a commercial approach.

MK: Where did the winemakers get their seedlings?

WB: Partly from Myśliwiec, but of course, seedlings can be easily purchased in wine-producing countries. We have Czechia and Slovakia just across the border. That’s not a problem, just a cost. And these were investors, businessmen who had money they’d made in other industries.

MK: And what about Jutrzenka in the Podkarpackie region?

WB: That was a variety created by Myśliwiec, a typical hybrid. The problem with hybrids was that most of them were of very poor quality. The early ones, such as Bianca and Sibera, were so-called second-generation hybrids that reeked of cabbage and IXI laundry powder; they had no merits.

MK: So why were they cultivated?

WB: Hybrids are developed for two purposes: either to ripen early and be suitable for a cold climate, which was their main function in Poland; or to be more disease resistant. At the time, it seemed that we in Poland couldn’t grow Chardonnay or any other vinifera variety, that the grapes wouldn’t be ripe enough to make wine. This turned out to be untrue. It gets a little warmer every year, which helps. Meanwhile, the discussion about hybrids is currently gaining momentum worldwide. On the one hand, we have the pressure of significantly reducing the use of chemicals in agriculture; after all, winemaking is responsible for a significant portion of soil contamination – in France, for example. There are stories about a winemaker spraying fifteen times, but if he’s planted a hybrid, spraying twice would be enough.

MK: So hybrids aren’t ‘inferior’?

WB: At first, I was skeptical about hybrids. Not from a cultivation perspective, as I don’t know anything about it, or at least I don’t have practical experience, but from the perspective of the market and the quality of these wines. Fourth-generation hybrids, such as Johanniter and Solaris, are varietals that are no longer easy to distinguish in a comparative tasting; they are simply very good. Johanniter and Riesling can be very similar, so the quality argument is no longer relevant.

MK: And can one grow noble red wine varietals in Poland?

WB: In Poland, for example, we have a lot of Pinot Noir; this varietal has recently produced surprisingly good wines in many places around the world, such as Czechia and Canada, which have similar climatic conditions to Poland. It used to be said that this was a difficult grape variety which only performed well in Burgundy, but that’s not true. That’s the great thing about wine – we’re constantly being self-verified. Yesterday, it seemed that only Italian wines were sexy, but today, wines from Greece and Croatia are considered sexy. It’s constantly changing.

MK: Has your opinion of Polish wine changed radically?

WB: I’ve evolved along with Polish winemaking. In ‘ancient’ times, I used to say it would be good to make cider instead of wine. Actually, we did start making cider in Poland, and it turned out to be a brilliant idea. In the ‘medieval’ phase, I supported the winemakers and praised the wines, although I pointed out that they were perhaps too expensive for the market. I said we had great debuts, but I hadn’t tasted those wines myself. They weren’t the same taste or quality for me. Now we’re in modern times with their prosperity, development, optimism, critical mass and therefore the development of a winemaking community. Sharing experiences and supporting each other is invaluable.

MK: Where do these Polish winemakers learn to make wine?

WB: There’s only one way to learn winemaking: by making wine. The problem is that wine is only made once a year. So, new winemakers apprentice with other, experienced ones. We don’t have wine schools, although we already have oenology as a postgraduate program at the Jagiellonian University, and the Podkarpacka Akademia Wina (Podkarpacka Wine Academy) has opened in the Podkarpackie region and is organizing training for winemaking adepts. You can, of course, study abroad.

Wine tourism in Lubusz Voivodeship, Zielona Góra, photo: Władysław Czuła / AG

MK: Who decides to become a winemaker?

WB: We have farmers who decide to change the course of their production. It’s clear that wine is a very attractive product and the greatest added value in agriculture, so I’m not surprised that people are drawn to it. We have city dwellers who had their own plots of land, or are buying them, and although they don’t have winemaking skills, they do have other skills, such as business acumen. So they develop sensible business plans. Sometimes it’s more important to think sensibly about distribution channels than to know how to press grape juice. This pressing process can be learned relatively quickly. We have many young winemakers, such as Michał Pajdosz, who inherited Jakubów Vineyard, making him a second-generation Polish winemaker. Many young people are returning to the land in Central Europe; in Germany and Austria, this is a strong trend. There are also winemakers without roots or an inherited vineyard, people who consider it an attractive lifestyle to go out in wellies at 7 a.m. to prune.

MK: How many vineyards are there in Poland, and how many of them sell wine?

WB: That’s a good distinction. The National Support Centre for Agriculture [Krajowy Ośrodek Wsparcia Rolnictwa, KOWR], registers and classifies vineyards. So we have about 350 registered vineyards. It’s unclear how many are unregistered, but I don’t think we need to deal with them. When there were 50 registered vineyards and 300 unofficial ones, it was worth talking about. Now that has changed. The entire sector is maturing. There was a time when Polish wine was a bit of a freak; you didn’t know if it was something you should pop the cork out of with a smack on the bottom of the bottle with your elbow to then drink with your mates in an alleyway the way we did back in the day. Now it’s different. Yesterday I visited Aleksander Baron, who has a pop-up bistro next to the Harenda, where he serves excellent food and exclusively Polish wines, with specially designed labels. Today, this doesn’t surprise anyone and is even considered very attractive. Five years ago, it was unimaginable.

MK: How do we differentiate wine regions in Poland?

WB: Vineyards now exist in all the voivodeships. Cultivation is possible everywhere, as there are no significant climatic differences. What is a surprise is that very good vineyards have appeared in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship.

MK: Where Turnau Vineyard is?

WB: Yes, but there’s already a whole association there, with about seven members, including the hugely successful Kojder Vineyards. This vineyard is run by siblings and has a ‘youthful and progressive’ style. They grow Solaris, Souvignier gris, Muscaris and Johanniter, as well as red varieties – Prior and Cabernet.

MK: Let’s move on.

WB: Of course, Zielona Góra in Lubusz Voivodeship is important. It has a long winemaking history, dating back to German times. Zielona Góra hosts a major event: Winobranie [grape harvest]. It seems this region will once again specialize in sparkling wines. Then we have Lower Silesia, the vineyards of Jaworek, Adoria, Wzgórza Trzebnickie and the new Ślęża resort and the Niemczańska Vineyard on the slope of one of the Strzelin-Niemcza Hills, on the banks of the Ślęza River. In the south, in Lesser Poland, there are also excellent conditions for viticulture thanks to the limestone soil that grapevines thrive in. This region includes the Srebrna Góra vineyard and many smaller ones, still searching for their regional definition. Another region is the Vistula River Gorge of Lesser Poland – a belt of vineyards in the Mazovian and Lublin Voivodeships encompassing the areas around Kazimierz nad Wisłą [also known as Kazimierz Dolny, ed.] and Janowiec nad Wisłą, where the annual Wine Festival [Święto Wina] is held.

Vineyards such as Mickiewicz, Rzeczyca and Dom Bliskowice dominate this region. In the Sandomierz region, the Płochocki Vineyard is one of the most important in Poland. The Podkarpackie region, the cradle of modern Polish winemaking, boasts numerous vineyards and the aforementioned training center. It’s colder there, so primarily hybrids are grown. A new region is the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. For example, near Bydgoszcz, the Przy Talerzyku Vineyard is located in the village of Topolno, near the 11th-century Talerzyk stronghold.

Weekend of Open Vineyards, 2019, Zielona Góra, photo: Władysław Czuła / AG

MK: And how will winemaking in Poland develop?

WB: Dynamically. I believe something significant must emerge around Warsaw. I was recently in China, and they created – by decree – a thousand hectares of vineyards around Beijing, twenty châteaux, a metro line and an artificial lake. Who knows, maybe this is what awaits us in Poland.

Wojciech Bońkowski published his first text about wine in 1999 in City Magazine. He has collaborated with Latarnik, Newsweek, Elle, Twój Styl, Trends, Na Temat, Magazyn Usta, Decanter.com, Porthos, For the Love of Port, A Művelt Alkoholista, Gault&Millau and Przekrój. Together with Marek Bieńczyk, he is the author of the Wina Europy [Wines of Europe] guide (2003, 2005, 2008). From 2002 to 2010, he was the author and deputy editor-in-chief of Magazyn Wino. His blog www.winaeuropy.pl was recognized as one of the best Polish blogs by the monthly Press. He is currently a correspondent for www.timatkin.com, the leading wine portal (Louis Roederer International Wine Website of the Year 2011, 2013), and Meininger’s Wine Business International. He is a member of the Tokaj Brotherhood. He has served as a juror in leading international wine competitions, including the International Wine Challenge and Decanter World Wine Awards. He launched the Winicjatywa website in 2012, and in 2017, together with Ewa Rybak and Ewa Wieleżyńska, the magazine Ferment. Aside from wine, he is interested in Italian literature (translating works by A. Tabucchi and U. Saba, among others) and musicology, and he is a regular associate of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.

Translated from Polish by Michał Pelczar

Language English

polish cuisine

drinking